Tremie



Feb. 14, 1956 H. MILLIGAN ErAL A2,734,612

' TREMIE Filed July 3, 1952 2,734,612 Patented Feb. 14, 1195s Harold E. Milligan and John Muehring, Creston, vIowa Application July s, 1952, serial No. 296,998 2 claims. (c1. 19a-s0) This invention relates to tremies for pouring concrete to form foundations'and walls and more particularly to a readily portable tremie which can be placed at desired locations in concrete forms and supported on the upper edge of a form for directing plastic concrete downwardly into the form. r Y

It i-s among the objects of the invention to provide an improved tremie which is of light weight and can be manually moved from place to place and is formed in separable parts so that it can be disassembled-for greater convenience in transportation and storage; which has a hollow stem which can be placed in substantially vertical po-sition between the two sides of a concrete form and a hopper secured to the upper end of the stem and adapted to rest on the upper edge of the form to support the tremie in operative position; which has its hopper inclined relative to the stem to facilitate dumping plastic concrete into the hopper; which has the stem portion adjacent the hopper tapered in a direction away from the hopper to reduce the tendency of the stem to clog; and which is simple and durable in construction, economical to manufacture, and effective and efficient in use.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a tremie illustrative of the invention;

Figure 2 is a front elevational View of the tremie with a portion broken away and shown in cross section to better illustrate the construction thereof; and

Figure 3 is a side elevational view of the tremie shown in operative position in a concrete form.

With continued reference to the drawing, the tremie comprises a hopper of pyramidal shape having a front wall 11, a back wall 12 and side walls 13 and 14 and having its larger end open and an opening 15 of rectangular shape at its smaller or apical end. A sleeve 16 of rectangular cross sectional shape is secured at one end to the hopper 10 at the apical end of the hopper in surrounding relationship to the opening 15 and has its longitudinal center line disposed at an angle to the plane of the larger end of the hopper for a purpose to be later explained in detail.

An upper tubular stem section 17 telescopically receives in one end thereof the end portion of the sleeve 16 remote from the hopper and the stem section 17 is tapered in thickness from its end receiving the sleeve 16 to its other end and is of a substantially uniform width. A second tubular stem section 18 of substantially uniform cross sectional shape and size receives in one end thereof the end portion of the section 17 at the smaller end of the latter and extends longitudinally from the section 17.

Hinge butts 19 and 20 are secured to the sleeve 16 one at each side thereof and complementary hinge butt-s 21 and 22 are secured to the stem section 17 at the larger end and one at each side of the stem section and have 2 hinge sleeve formations on their ends adjacent the hinge butts 19 and 20 overlapping complementary formations on Vthe adjacent ends of the butts 19 and 20. A pin 23 extends through the overlapping sleeve formations of the hinge butts `19 and 21 and a similar pin 24 extends through the overlapping sleeve formations of the hinge butts 20 and 22 and these pins 23 and 24 detachably secure the upper stem section 17 to the hopper sleeve 16.

Hinge butts 25 and26 are secured to the upper section 17 at the smaller, lower end of'this section and one at each side thereof and hinge butt-s 27-'and 28 are secured on the lower section 18 at theend of the lower section receiving the lower end Iof the upper section 17 and one at each side of the lower section. The hinge butts 25 and 27 have overlapping sleeve formations on their adjacent ends and a pin 29 extends through these overlapping sleeve formations to secure the butts 25 and 27 together and the hinge butts 26 and 28 have similar overlapping sleeve formations on their adjacent ends and a pin 30 extends through these overlapping formations to secure the hinge butts 26 `and 28 together. The pins 29 and 30 detachably which the concrete is to be poured. When the tremie is so positioned the top edge of the back wall of the hopper will be above the top edge of the front wall and the plane of the larger, open end of the hopper will incline downwardly from the top edge of the back wall to the top edge of the front Wall so that a wheelbarrow or concrete buggy can be easily dumped into the hopper over the top edge of the front wall and the hopper will prevent the plastic concrete from spilling over the back wall.

When the concrete is dumped into the hopper it will fall through the sleeve 16 into the larger upper end of the stem section 17 and, as the downward speed of the concrete increases as it falls from the hopper, the taper of the sleeve 17 will reduce the cross sectional area of the stem so that the concrete will substantially till the stem and maintain its downward speed, This greatly reduces any tendency for the stern of the tremie to clog with concrete and the insertion of the lower end of the sleeve into the upper end of the stem section 17 and of the lower end of the upper stem section 17 into the upper end of the lower stem section 18 provides a substantially unobstructed passage through the stem for the concrete so that the concrete falls all of the way through the stem and pours at the velocity of its fall out of the lower end of the stem.

By using the tremie the concrete can be properly placed in the form and forced through the reinforcing rods or grids disposed Within the form. When the form has been filled, to a suflicient extent, the lower stem section 18 may be removed and u-se of the tremie continued with the upper section 17 only and, when the concrete has reached a level near the top of the form, the upper section 17 may also be removed and the hopper portion alone of the tremie used to complete the pouring of the concrete into the form. The sections may also be disassembled from each other and from the hopper for convenience in transporting and storing the tremie. n

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential character i'stics thereof. The present embodiment is, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency ofthe claims are, therefore, intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:

1. A portable tremie comprising a hopper of pyramidal shape having itsr larger end open and an opening' at its apical end and-a sleeve surrounding said opening disposed atY an angle to the plane ofv said largerend and extending outwardly of said hopper, a first tubular stem'section receiving-said sleeve inone end and taperingvfrom said one to the other. end thereof, a second tubular stemsection of substantially uniform cross sectional area receiving said other end of said rst section in one end thereof and extending longitudinally from said first section, and means releasably connectingsaid first and second stem sections together against longitudinal movement relative to each other and said first section to said hopper.

2. A portable tremie comprising a hopper of pyramidal shape having its larger end open and an opening at its apical end and a sleeve surrounding said opening disposed at an angle to the frame of said larger end and extending outwardly of said hopper, a firstl tubular stem section receiving said sleeve in one end thereof and tapering from said one to the other end thereof,`means releasably conf necting said first section to said sleeve, a second tubular stem section of substantially uniformcross sectional area receivingsaid other end of said first section in one end thereof and extending longitudinally from said first section, and means releasably connecting said first and second stem sections together against longitudinal movement relative to each other comprising butt plates mounted on said iirst stem section one at each side thereof and at the end of said first stern section remote from said hopper, each of said butt plates having apertured lugs thereon at the adjacent end of said iirst section, butt plates on said second section one at each side thereof at the end of said second section receiving the adjacent end of said iirst section and each having apertured lugs thereon at the adjacent end of said second section, the lugs of the butt plates on said second section overlapping the lugs of the correspondingbutt plates on said first section, and pins extending through the apertures of the overlapping lugs of the butt plates at the respectively opposite sides of said sections.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 853,750 Whorrall May 14, 1907 1,100,959 Dick June 23, 1914 1,132,946 Kelly Mar. 23, 1915 1,138,431 West May 4, 1915 1,230,820 Levalley et a1. June 19, 1917 1,503,669 Simon Aug. 5, 1924 1,721,068- Bushnell July 16, 1929 2,258,516 Richardson Oct. 7, 1941 2,656,999 Ul1bergj Oct. 27, 1953 www 

